21 June, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news ....
Bogdan Matei, 21.06.2015, 14:09
On Monday, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will present in plenary parliament session the countrys National Defence Strategy for the period 2015 — 2019. On June 17th, the defence committees of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies endorsed the document, which is to be debated and voted upon in parliament. One of the novelties of the strategy is the concept of ‘extended security’. National security is thus regarded not just as a matter of defence, but also in relation to other aspects such as public order, economy, infrastructure, education, health-care, environment and culture. The strategic partnership with the US and the membership to NATO and the EU are reaffirmed in the document as the main pillars of Romania’s foreign and security policies.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry disapproves of the statements made by the Austrian Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz, regarding social security for intra-community workers. The Romanian Ministry believes that mentioning Romania in such a contest is unjustified, as the Romanian citizens come only 5th among the European beneficiaries of child benefits, after Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Slovenia. Stressing upon such stands, right before the regional elections in Austria, may turn the Romanian citizens working in that country into victims of an internal political dispute, and at the same time affect the relations between Romania and Austria , the Romanian Foreign Ministry has also warned. Kurz had called for the reformation of the Austrian social security system, saying it was not right and gave as an example the situation of the Romanian citizens working in Austria and whose children were left back in the country. He said the 160 Euro benefit that the Austrian state paid to children should be diminished down to the level of the one in Romania, which is approximately 20 Euros.
The first Romanian citizens crossing the border on the basis of their national ID cards were registered at the borders between Romania and the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, the former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population. On Tuesday, the Government in Chisinau adopted a decision under which the EU citizens are allowed to cross the Moldovan border also on the basis of their national identification cards, not just passports. Bucharest has hailed the decision, terming it as a political signal of Moldova’s clear commitment to joining the EU.
On Monday, the Romanian Defense Minister, Mircea Dusa, will pay a visit to the military personnel participating in the TRIDENT JOUST 15 AND RESOLUTE CASTLE 15 exercises, held in central Romania. Over one thousand soldiers from 25 NATO member countries are participating, until June 28th, in the TRIDENT JOUST 15 exercise. As part of this exercise, it’s for the first time that structures of the Allied Joined Force Command Naples have been deployed in Romania. Also as a first, the control and command unit of NATO’s Response Force has been temporarily transferred to Romania. Another 200 Romanian and American soldiers are participating in the RESOLUTE CASTLE 15 exercise until September 15h.
The European Central Bank will not allow banks in Greece to collapse, because that would create a domino effect, which would damage other European banks as well, said a Greek official, quoted by news agencies. On Friday, the ECB allocated emergency funds for the Greek banks, which are faced with a major shortage of liquidities due to the massive withdrawals in the past weeks. The Greeks are afraid their deposits might be converted into the national currency if Athens leaves the Eurozone. On Monday, the 19 Eurozone heads of state and government will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels, to establish what’s going to happen with the financial aid program for Greece. The program was blocked when Athens refused to take austerity measures. Greece needs 7.2 billion euros by the end of the month, otherwise it risks to default on payments.
Today is the last day of the 22nd International Theatre Festival in Sibiu. For 10 days the town has hosted over 2 thousand 5 hundred artists from 70 countries, with a marathon of theatre, music and dance performances, as well as numerous street events. The Festival in Sibiu is the third largest of this kind in Europe, after those of Edinburgh in Scotland and Avignon in France.
Romania has won silver in the group event of the aerobic gymnastics competition hosted by the European Games in Baku. Hungary got the first place and the bronze went to Spain. The Romanian delegation has won 5 medals. Previously, gymnast Adreea Iridon won the silver medal in the beam event and one bronze in the bars event, Roxana Borha and Elena Meroniac won silver in double kayak 500 m and male gymnast Marius Berbecar got the bronze in the parallel bars competition.
